The field of the disclosure relates generally to additive manufacturing systems and, more specifically, to systems and methods for manufacturing and rendering a three-dimensional component using a generating function.
Additive manufacturing systems and processes are used to fabricate three-dimensional components. For example, in some additive manufacturing processes, successive layers of material are solidified one on top of the other to fabricate the components. At least some known additive manufacturing systems, such as Direct Metal Laser Melting (DMLM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), and LaserCusing® systems fabricate components using a focused energy source, such as a laser device or an electron beam generator, a build platform, and a particulate, such as, without limitation, a powdered metal. (LaserCusing is a registered trademark of Concept Laser GmbH of Lichtenfels, Germany.) The focused energy source device melts the particulate material on the build platform in and around the area where the focused energy source is incident on the particulate material, resulting in at least one melt pool in a process known as “scanning.” Each melt pool cools and consolidates to form at least a portion of the next layer in the build process.
Some known additive manufacturing systems include a controller that receives electronic files and directs the laser using the electronic files. In some known additive manufacturing systems, the electronic files include coordinate data that describe a series of linear sections, e.g., vectors, to approximate portions of the three-dimensional components. However, complex three-dimensional (3D) components require a plurality of linear sections to approximate portions of the components. As the file size is increased to accommodate the plurality of linear sections, the time required for the controller to receive and process the electronic files is increased. Additionally, rendering (i.e. creating a 3D image of the component) can be very memory intensive and can slow the controller's process substantially. As a result, the cost to produce three-dimensional components is increased. In addition, the electronic files limit the precision with which the additive manufacturing system is able to produce the three-dimensional components.